I am taking the "Foolish Seminar" What to Do Now, and it was suggested that I pose my questions here, and that y'all might have some suggestions for me... I am 55 and my husband is 71. I am the only one who has saved anything for retirement and I started late, like in 1990, ('cause I wasn't a "FOOL" then). My husband started collecting his SS checks when he was 65 (he is working a full time job now) but he still hasn't put anything away for an eventual retirement for himself. He figures he will keep on working till he can't. I have an IRA (rolled over from a previous employer, and since the market downturn and the events of 9-11, it is worth about 1/2 of its original $114,000. I also have about $10,000 in my current employer's retirement plan (403B, or some silly number like that). I would like to retire (someday) but I will still be doing something (like investing in fixer-upper homes with my son and selling them for profit every two years). I don't want to sit on my butt and draw SS and eat dog food (I would have to share that with a very hungry chihuahua). Anyway, my question is...should I wait till I'm 66 to start taking my SS payments, and should I invest them somewhere, or should I wait till I'm over 70 1/2 to get the maximum amount or should I forget ever getting SS since the Feds seem to be gutting it now? Or, one other possibility, take the SS payments as soon as 62 and invest them????

When Life Gives You Lemons
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